UK Government Pressures Bank of England over Payment System Breakdown

In the day following the ten-hour breakdown of the UK’s highvalue payments system, the Bank of England is facing political pressure todeliver a more detailed explanation after consumers and businesses waitedanxiously to see if their payments had been processed.

While the Bank of England has yet to provide a trueexplanation, word has emerged that the glitch in the system came after theCentral Bank updated the system by changing the name of a single bank fromNorthern Bank to Danske Bank, on the Chaps platform.

Commenting on the issue, Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of theTreasury Committee wrote in an open letter to Bank of England Governor MarkCarney, “A crucial part of the UK’s financial infrastructure failed for severalhours today. I will be writing to the Bank of England to find out why,” hesays. “The whole economy depends on a reliable payment system. We need to haveconfidence that the cause has been found and addressed.”

With interest in real time payments high around the world,the failure of the UK’s system is worth noting and should be of interestparticularly in the United States as regulators look at the prospect ofimplementing a similar system in the US.

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